millhouse

Monday, April 18, 2011

Located in our basement is my favorite wall art. Why is it my favorite? Because it displays the rules. Yes, the rules. We read them a lot. Thanks to Caleb and his attitude (where does he get it from?!) Anyway, I found a cute cross stitch at an antique store and printed out some rules (from etsy), and put them into frames purchased here at IKEA.

A while back I purchased some ABC decals at Meijer (before they were discounted to only 9.99!!). Anyway, now that that basement is finished, I have been busy getting the play area organized and decorated, so I went to the Dollar Tree and purchased 26 random frames. My orginal intent was to paint them all white, but I just loved the natural look of them- it really made the colors in the letters pop! So, how does one go about hanging 26 frames? Thanks to one of my favorite websites, younghouselove, I was able to hang all 26 with ease. Step 1: Arrange frames how you want them. Step 2: Cut out pieces of paper to match the sizes of the various frames and tape them to the wall.

Step 3: Mark the nail holes on the pieces of paper according to where the hanging apparatus is located.

Step 4: Pound your nails on the marks you drew on each piece, remove piece of paper and replace it with the frame.

So, there may not be doorknobs on the doors yet, but at least this play area will have cute decorations.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

I decided to take advantage of the time I had at home with my babies, to do some house re-decorating (which, yes, I do quite frequently). So, here are a few pictures of the living room and dining room (and basement pictures will come soon!)... Living room before: Dining room before-before:

Dining room before:

AFTER!!!:

We moved the old couches down to the basement and purchased these lovely beauties at Art Van. They are a dark chocolate color...kinda hard to tell in the picture. And, yes, those are toys stashed under the coffee table. A little bit of reality for you there.

(I scored this sideboard on craigslist for 50 bucks and slapped some dutch blue paint on it and new hardware....bada-bing!)

I sold the table we made (the long, skinny, knock-off wood table). We were wanting something smaller (and circular), that would have the option of seating more if possible. This table was another craigslist deal (100 bucks!). It is solid oak and has 2 leaves that extend it into a nice lengthy table for when we need the space. And notice the cute claw feet. Ya, me likey. :) Of course, we painted it this lovely off-white color to match the hutch.

This hutch used to be red. I like it better now. That's all I have to say about that (use your best Forrest Gump accent when you read that please)

Stats:

Old table- sold for $400

New table- purchase for $100

New Chairs- IKEA, $20 each

New Blue Curtains- IKEA, $20

Hutch- $20 for paint and monogram

Sideboard- $50 + $15 for paint + $20 for hardware

New couches- $500

Coming soon!:

-we inherited a sideboard and coordinating shelf from Russ' parents that we painted and put in the basement.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

While disposable diapers haven't completely left our household, we are proud to say that cloth diapers have successfully entered. At $6.99 a pop you can get yours here While comparable to BumGenius cloth diapers, they are a third of the price. Jackpot. We were blessed to have them (18 of them. that is) gifted to us at a shower, so the cost to get started was the purchase of this lovely diaper sprayer: It attaches to your toilet (with the help of your hubby) and sprays the dickens (or the poop) out of your diaper! So, without further ado, I give you, the Kawaii one size fits all, all in one, snap closure, cloth diaper:

Each diaper comes with 2 microfiber inserts and a waterproof shell. The diapers can snap up to make them small enough for a newborn, or big enough for a toddler.

Just snap away till you find the size that fits your little bean.

Tada!

Soiled diapers get sprayed first, then put into a "wet bag" to be washed later. Wet (peepee) daipers also go in the same bag. We use disposable wipes still- but those go in the trash.

We wash them daily right now because there are so many soiled diapers at this stage, but eventually we will wash them every 2 days or so. Cold water soak, then a hot water wash.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

In honor of Frodo's birthday this week (St. Patty's day), we would like to dedicate this blog revival to him with some of our favorite Frodo blog posts. Take some time to click on the links and get to know our dog. I think you'll like him.

Friday, April 30, 2010

For those of you who know, I have been on a dining room search for quite some time . I sold our counter height dining table on craigslist (see below) and decided that I wanted a long rectangular table that would seat at least 8 and would be, of course, stylish.

I searched and searched....and searched.....and couldn't find what I wanted. I ended up buying an antique dining set (see below) that I spruced up, but after a month with that, decided that I STILL wasn't happy with it. As you can see, I also decided to paint the walls a more neutral color instead of the orange (which was a HUGE project....and now I miss the orange....see, I'm just never happy!)

Sooo, a friend told me about http://www.knock-offwood.com/ and, I was hooked!!! I made a list of projects that I would tackle, starting with the "rustic table".

The plans were REALLY easy to follow and the supplies for the table were around $150 (and that's only because I went wood shopping with my husband and he had to get the "best" wood....so, we did).

Assembly went quickly, but it was the staining that stretched out the project. True, it only takes a couple of minutes to stain, but then to wait 6-8 hours inbetween stains, when you put about 8 coats on....and then a couple coats of varnish....well, you get the point.

And the results:

Here are the details:

Wood- Pine

Stain- Dark Walnut

Varnish: Clear Satin

Chairs: purchased on craigslist (all 8 for $50!!) and stripped them down, painted, then reupholstered.

Paint- off white.

Fabric: Purchased at Joann Fabrics with my 50% off coupon (paid about $20 total, and then purchased some scotch guard for it with y 40% off coupon)

TOTAL COST (for the entire dining set).....drum roll please..........

$250!!!!

Now.....go out and start your knock-off wood project. If we can do it, YOU CAN TOO!!!